The fourth season of the Shingeki no Kyojin anime series could be the ending of the entire story

The Attack On Titan Season 4 release date is certain to be highly anticipated since the fourth season of the Shingeki no Kyojin anime adaptation will finally reveal the secrets of the larger world. Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, Armin Arlert, and Levi Ackerman will be taking to war against an overseas foe after discovering Grisha Yeager’s journals in Eren’s father’s basement in the Shiganshina district.

Audiences may be surprised by what the Survey Corps finds on the other side of the ocean, and may think this story has the potential to go on endlessly, but the 800-pound Titan sitting quietly in the corner is the fact that the story the anime adaptation is based upon is swiftly reaching an ending. So, will the fourth season leave room for Attack On Titan Season 5 or will it be the final season of the series?

The story is based on the Shingeki no Kyojin manga by creator Hajime Isayama. Since 2009, the mangaka has released one chapter on the 8th of each month, with each chapter being about 45 pages long. To put both the manga and the anime adaptation into perspective, most of the events of Season 2 were already shown in manga chapters released way back in 2013.

The hardcover tankobon format book volumes usually come with four chapters each and as of April 2018, the manga series was up to Volume 25. Attack On Titan Volume 26 is scheduled to release on August 9, 2018.

The English translation by publisher Kodansha USA historically tends to come out within several months of the Japanese release. As of July 2018, the English Volume 25 is already out and Volume 26 is scheduled to come out on December 4, 2018.

This article provides everything that is known about Attack On Titan Season 4 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.

Shingeki no Kyojin Manga Ending Relatively Soon: What That Means For Attack On Titan Season 5

For years now, fans have known that the ending of the Attack On Titan manga series was coming. Back in 2015, Isayama estimated that he was about 60 percent done when Volume 16 released. While there is no set date for the manga’s ending, the publisher later confirmed that the manga had around three years left in it, which meant either 2018 or 2019.

Fast forward to December 2017 and the mangaka had reached Chapter 100. Isayama said in a blog post that he had started putting thought into exactly how he wanted to end Attack On Titan. He also mentioned that people kept asking him whether the story had been deliberately stretched out.

“I know there is an impression like that, but to me, in fact I don’t think particularly in that way. If you ask me whether it is true, I’d rather say ‘if it gets stretched, isn’t it very bad to the whole sense of completeness of the story?’ I fear things like that will happen,” Isayama wrote. “Same as other people, I also think it better to keep the length short… Although this is what I have in my mind, when I actually implement the ideas appropriately, the story gets inevitably long.”

Warning: The following paragraph contains minor spoilers.

Based on the way the story is progressing in 2018, new ideas may push out the ending even further. For example, Attack On Titan Season 4 will open with the newest manga story arc involving multiple time skips. In a March 2018 Q & A session, Isayama was asked,“Any plan to draw the four-year period back on Paradis island?” Isayama responded, “That’s something I can’t tell you for now,” and his editor Kawakubo Shintaro jumped in and said, “Isayama-sensei won’t tell you anything, but please look forward…”

By June 2018, manga fans knew the real answer. Starting with Attack On Titan Chapter 106 and 107, Isayama has slowly begun filling in the time gap by showing what happened from the perspective of the Survey Corps.

However, flashbacks probably won’t delay Attack On Titan’s ending indefinitely. In a May 2018 interview with NHK Japan, Isayama confirmed that he had already mapped out the manga’s ending. He didn’t reveal the chapter number for the ending, or whether the final chapter will release in 2018 or 2019, but he stated that he hopes to finish the SnK manga quickly for the sake of the work itself.

Assuming that Isayama keeps this promise by the end of 2018, that means the fourth season will be the final season. Of course, if the manga author keeps on producing new chapters well into 2019 without making an announcement about the manga ending, then that means there could be room for Attack On Titan Season 5. Or, at the very least, the final fourth season could finish off with two cours composed of 24 episodes.

The first half of Attack On Titan Season 3 should be significantly different in comparison to the manga

Attack On Titan Manga Compared To The Anime Adaptation: The Third Season Will Diverge Significantly

The first cour of Season 1 adapted 20 chapters, while the second cour adapted 16 chapters with 12 episodes. Similarly, the Clash of the Titans story arc of Season 2 was a ratio of 16 chapters to 12 episodes. Without getting into spoilers, it is very likely that Attack On Titan Season 3 will attempt to adapt two story arcs composed of 20 chapters each. Therefore, it’s very likely the third season may also adapt the chapters at a rapid pace compared to the second season unless extensive changes are made to the plot.

One lingering question is how Wit Studios will handle the Uprising manga story arc being covered by Attack On Titan Season 3. In an interview published in the Season 2 Blu-Ray box set, manga author Isayama Hajime revealed that he was “disappointed” with his own work in the manga volumes that covered the events of the Uprising story arc.

“After writing Volume 12, in the period between 13 and 16 was when I felt the most disappointed with my work,” he said. “Hopefully, now that [Attack On Titan] Season 3 is being made, I’ll have the chance to wipe away that regret and replace it with something I’m proud of.”

The mangaka says he suffered a “personal fallout” where his personal energy was “totally exhausted due to nothing but my own incompetence” after he completed Volume 12. Rather than take a break, he kept working hard to turn manuscripts in on time. Due to this agitated state, he believes the quality of Volume 13 through 16 was harmed. He now believes he “reluctantly extended” the manga chapters and made them “duller each month.” (How that explains his creation of the so-called “shit machine” is anyone’s guess.)

Shortly after the airing of Attack On Titan 3 Episode 1, Isayama wrote about how he worked with screenwriter Kobayashi Keiko to create a “clear and succinct backbone for my messed up manga.”

“At least, in my self-reflection I was weak-minded. Thus, when Season 3’s anime production first started, I discussed with the staff members and expressed that I hope they could appropriately rearrange the sections and functions of storylines in Volume 13 through 16 from the get-go,” Isayama wrote in his personal blog. “As a result, they delivered an idealized script for me. This time, the story has a structure that I had no way of accomplishing with my own skills!”

While many fans love the Uprising story arc since it really dug into worldbuilding, critics disliked the dialogue-heavy stories that were not as action-packed as previous story arcs. While the exact changes to the third season were left undefined, Isayama did say that writer Seko Hiroshi “turned some poorly-written plots in the original manga into more compelling forms.”

Finally, the Attack On Titan creator thanked director Araki Tetsuro for bringing “together guidelines for the overall production … as well as all members who participated in the production.” Back in June 2018, Araki had already discussed how Studio Wit planned on changing the structure of the third season.

“Whether it is structural composition or animation, [Attack On Titan] season 3 differs from the previous two quite a lot – it almost feels like an entirely new series. Whether it is Eren, Levi, or other characters, the production now focuses on their innermost attributes, and it will be quite clear that up to now, we’ve only understood them on a surface level. Even just looking at a key animation draft, it’s apparent that this is not a direct extension of the previous seasons.”

While some fans may dislike it when an anime adaptation changes the source material, Isayama believes the differences should make the third season even better than his original vision. In fact, he says, “This time, I can ascend to heaven right after I die!”

Attack On Titan Season 3 is going to be longer, but when the second cour release?

Attack On Titan Season 4 Release Date: Will There Be Another Long Wait?

As of the last update, Studio Wit or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Attack On Titan Season 4 release date. Nor has the production of a sequel been announced. Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information. In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Shingeki no Kyojin Season 4 premiere date will occur in the future.

Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 began airing on July 22, 2018. It is believed that Attack On Titan Season 3 will be a two-cour season and run for 24 episodes. The official website has confirmed that the third season will be two cours, but they have not yet officially announced the total number of episodes. It is possible there will be a short hiatus between the two cours or even a recap episode.

It is also possible that the third season will be a split-cour anime season, which is when a single season takes a three-month break before renewing broadcasting. If that’s the case, then the second half of the third season will likely begin airing in January 2019 during the winter anime season.

Therefore, the Attack On Titan Season 4 release date will definitely be in 2019 or beyond. It is possible that Episode 24 of the third season will conclude by announcing the fourth season. If that happy event does not occur, Studio Wit may be waiting on manga creator Isayama to reach a final ending for the manga series.

If that is indeed the case, then anime fans need not wait too long. By the end of 2018, the monthly manga will be up to Attack On Titan Chapter 112 assuming the manga hasn’t already ended by then. Based on the information available during the premiere, the third season will likely find an ending somewhere around Chapter 90 (Volume 22). That stopping point will give Studio Wit around 22 chapters to work with for producing Attack On Titan Season 4, which is more than enough for a single-cour finale.

Unfortunately, if the manga finds an ending that’s closer to Chapter 124 through 130, that adds more than a year of waiting. As previously mentioned, it’s possible the manga could leave room for Attack On Titan Season 5, but that scenario depends on whether there is a good stopping point in the final manga story arc by that time. If Isayama intends on finishing the manga with a long, final story arc, then Wit Studio’s plan might be to produce SnK Season 4 with two cours, which probably means fans must wait until at least 2020.

Attack On Titan Volume 26 was the latest manga book available when the third season began airing in 2018

Shingeki no Kyojin Season 4 Spoilers

Note: The following assumes that the ending of the third season will correspond to Chapter 90 of the manga. This article will be updated once the final episodes air in Japan.

One year after the battle of Trost district, the Survey Corps finally set about beyond Wall Maria for the first time in several years. They find the ocean in the year 851, reaching the border of Paradis Island. While others played out scenes from the inevitable anime beach episode, Eren is focused only on killing enemies across the sea.

The secrets inside Eren’s basement proved that the true history of the walled world is about as flip-flopped as anyone might guess. The Eldia world map is based upon a reversed Madagascar and Africa and it turns out Paradis is simply an isolated fraction of humanity.

Paradis Island and its walled cities is the relatively tiny bit of land that’s near the finger pointing to the map

The empire of Marley was created during the Great Titan War when the Marleyans rose up against Eldia and expunged the Eldians from all of the territories except for Paradis Island. The highest authority in the nation is the Tybur family, Eldian nobles who sided with Marley during the Great Titan War. Marley sent Warriors into Paradis to recover the Coordinate, but after that failure Marley officially declares war on Paradis in the year 854.

What’s more, the rest of the humanity is at war with each other, as well. The beginning of Attack On Titan Season 4 will open by presenting to anime audiences the viewpoint of the Warriors of Marley. For the last four years, they have been battling against the Mid-East Allied Forces, a coalition of territories located in areas physically similar to a reversed real-life India or Arabian Peninsula.

The Mid-East Allied Forces had declared war when Marley lost the Colossus Titan and the Female Titan thanks to Eren and his friends. Marley had other Titan types to spare, but the Allied Forces had anti-Titan artillery, machine guns, Naval dreadnoughts, and other military hardware.

But Reiner Braun’s Armored Titan and Zeke Yeager’s Beast Titan intend on taking a stronghold called Fort Slava in order to put an end to this war. And they do it in dramatic fashion by taking a zeppelin and raining Titans down from on high. While the four-year war is brought to an end, the fact that weapons capable of harming the Warriors’ Titan exist means the age of relying only on Titan power is coming to an end.

Meanwhile, Marley’s forces have realized that every ship sent to Paradis Island has been destroyed, which means that Paradis must be in control of at least several Titans: the Founding Titan, the Attack Titan, the Colossus Titan, and the Female Titan. Besides developing more conventional weaponry to retain their strategic advantage, Zeke recommends to the Marleyan military that seizing the power of Eren’s Founding Titan become a military imperative. It is believed that Paradis Island must be crushed because they are a threat to the rest of the world.

The story also follows Reiner as he meets with children who are Warrior candidates. Reiner regales them with tales of living among the devils of Paradis Island. Audiences will be introduced to Falco, a candidate for inheriting the Armored Titan from Reiner. Falco becomes suspicious of Reiner because of the older man’s behavior and the fact that he described the people of Paradis Island as being just “different” rather than fully evil as Marley’s propaganda would suggest.

Marley’s military is entrusting the power of Titans to children who go through intense training. Through many flashback sequences, audiences will also get to see the childhoods of Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, and Marcel and see why they are so motivated by hatred toward the people of Paradis Island. The anime will also show the attack on Wall Maria, which led to the death of Eren’s mother, and the subsequent military training with Eren from the perspective of the four Marleyans.

Eren gets penetrated and hammered during his fight against the War Hammer Titan

While the opening episodes of Attack On Titan Season 4 will be mostly about backstory and developing the Marleyan characters, the action will finally start to heat up when Eren successfully infiltrates a Marley city called Liberio with the help of an unwitting Falco. Eren meets a shocked Reiner and both of them talk openly of their beliefs regarding the world they live in. With both men’s motivations and beliefs laid bare, Eren proceeds to transform into the Attack Titan and kill Marleyan citizens, including children, who had gathered for a speech.

The surprise attack turns into a battle against the War Hammer Titan, one of the Nine Titans capable of creating weapons and structures out of hardened Titan flesh. Mikasa joins the fight armed with thunder spears and other members of the Survey Corps, including Levi, attack using anti-personnel vertical maneuvering equipment. The battle quickly escalates into a full-out war between the Survey Corps and Marley’s Warriors.

Levi Ackerman will take on Zeke Yeager in his Titan Beast form

The Survey Corps has a grand plan for taking on Marley and the rest of the world to secure the future for the hated Eldian race. Unfortunately, anime audiences will have to wait until the Attack On Titan Season 4 release date happens to see how the story goes. Stay tuned!